The following listsEverton's League performances, top goalscorers and average attendances from 1888, when theFootball League was formed, to the end of the most recent completed season. For a more detailed history seeHistory of Everton F.C.
The 98 full seasons in the 20th century were reduced to 87 deducting the war years. Everton competed in 83 top flight seasons in the 20th century, the highest of any club. Everton averaged a top flight position of 8.15. Everton were founder members of the Football League in 1888 and were champions of it for the first time in 1891. By the timeWorld War II broke out in 1939, they had been league champions five times and had fielded some of the biggest names in English football, including goalkeeperTed Sagar and forwardsDixie Dean andTommy Lawton. In Everton's title-winning season of 1927–28, Dean scored a record 60 league goals in a single season – still an English record.
Everton originally played atAnfield until a dispute with their landlord in 1892 saw the club exit the ground, which was re-occupied by the newly formedLiverpool, who gradually became Everton's fiercelocal rivals. Everton, meanwhile, settled into nearbyGoodison Park, where they played until the end of the 2024-25 season, moving to theHill Dickinson Stadium at the start of the 2025-26 season.
Everton hold the record of playing most seasons in the top flight of English football, only playing four seasons outside the first tier since the creation of the Football League in 1888. The club have played at the top level continuously since 1954; onlyArsenal have a longer unbroken run at this level.
After World War II, Everton's first major success came in 1963, when they won the league title under the management ofHarry Catterick, who also added another league title to Everton's club honours in 1970, as well as the FA Cup in 1966 and two Charity Shields in 1963 and 1970.
Another golden era at Everton prevailed, after the appointment ofHoward Kendall as manager in 1981. Everton won the FA Cup in 1984 and became league champions in 1985, when they also won their first European trophy in the shape of theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup. Another league title in 1987 and three consecutive Charity Shields in 1984, 1985 and 1986 also followed. Everton also won a fourth consecutive Charity Shield in 1987, under the management ofColin Harvey.
Everton's only trophies after 1987 came in 1995 when they won theFA Cup and theCharity Shield under the management ofJoe Royle, who, like Catterick, Kendall and Harvey had also been with the club during his playing career. Since the formation of theFA Premier League in 1992, their highest league finish has been 4th in 2005; on three occasions (1998, 2004 and 2023), they have finished 17th, one place above the relegation zone.
The appointment ofDavid Moyes as manager in March 2002, brought something of a turning point in Everton's recent history, as he re-established the club as regulars in the top places of the Premier League, although he failed to add any trophies, the club being finalists in the2009 FA Cup final. Moyes departed in July 2013 after 11 years as Everton manager, to take charge ofManchester United, being succeeded byRoberto Martinez, who had a promising first season but was sacked after three seasons to be replaced byRonald Koeman. Koeman was dismissed in October 2017, with the club lying in 18th position during the initial stages of the2017–18 season. Koeman was replaced bySam Allardyce in November 2017, with the team eventually finishing 8th in thePremier League, that season. Allardyce had his 18-month contract terminated at the end of the season.
On 31 May 2018, Everton appointedMarco Silva, as their new manager. Silva had originally been approached to become the club's manager in October 2017, following the dismissal of Koeman. However, at the time, he was still the manager ofWatford and any proposed deal at that time, fell through. Silva was sacked by Watford in January 2018, after a run of bad results in thePremier League. Everton's pursuit of Silva resurfaced after the club parted company with Allardyce.
On 6 December 2019, Silva was sacked after a poor run of results left the club in the relegation zone. Silva had won 24 and lost 24 of his league games as Everton manager. On 21 December 2019,Carlo Ancelotti was appointed as the club's new manager on a four-and-a-half-year contract. However, he left the club on 1 June 2021, returning to coachReal Madrid. On 30 June 2021,Rafael Benítez was appointed, becoming just the second man to manage both Everton and Liverpool. His reign, however, only lasted six months; he was sacked on 16 January 2022, making him the shortest-serving permanent manager in Everton's history.Frank Lampard replaced him at the end of the month, but he was also sacked on 23 January 2023, barely lasting a year. A week after Lampard's dismissal on 30 January 2023,Sean Dyche was appointed as new Everton manager. He too was sacked almost two years later on 9 January 2025, having only won 3 league games after the first half of the season. Two days later on 11 January 2025,David Moyes agreed on a two-and-a-half-year contract, to return as the club's manager after almost 12 years.
^The1939–40 Football League season was abandoned after only three weeks of competition in mid-September. TheWartime League was created to replace the suspended Football League during the war.
